Improved paddle-wheel



@ninth tetra gianni i @Hire JanneA BURsoN, or Yarns, intrants;

Letters Patent No. 78,574, datedvJun-e 2, 186.8; antedated May 23, 1868.

menorca rannte-WHEEL.

-TO ALL WHOM' IT'MAY CON CERN:

vBe it known that I, JAMES BURSON, of Yatesv city, in the county of Knox, and State of Illinois, have invented a certainnewrand useful Improvement on Feathering-Wheels applicable as Paddle-Wheels, and toother purposes, of which the following is a full, clear, and. exact description," reference beingr had to the accompanyng drawing, forming part of this specification, and in which- I I Figure 1 .represents a section of 'a feathering-wheel, taken transversely through the main or centre shaft, with its guiding-rails or tracks constructed according to my improvement, and

Figure 2 an end view of the same at right angles to iig. 1. A

Like letters indicate like parts in both iguresf.

.My invention,which will here be illustrated as applied to paddlewheels, for which use it may either be' worked submerged or'as ordinary paddle-wheels'are operated, is also applicable to water or tidal-wheels, the'sameprinciple'of action or construction being observed whether the duid act upon the wheel or the latter upon the former, it only'being necessary, in order to adapt the device toeitheror any of these uses, to modify or alter certain details, lwhich come within the province of the engineer or those'skilled in constructing mechanism of the description referred to. i

The nature of my invention'consi'sts in a. novel mode or arrangement of means for feathering the blades or buckets of the wh`eel,by, rstly, a novel combination, with the bucket or blade-shafts, of guide-rodholdingf plates or carriers, arranged outside' the arms of the wheel, for operation in connection with fixed ways, and i whereby the support to thebuckets may be duplicated at pleasure; and said invention further consists in 'a combination of four guide-rods .to either bucket,'with separate tracks, for securing a strong and steady feathering action of the buckets in the rotation of the wheel.

Referring tothe accompanying drawing, which may be supposed to represent a vertical paddle-wheel l Varrangement, A indicates portion of the wheel-house frame, B the 'main or centre shaft of. the wheel, and C` the` arms .of the latter, duplicated on opposite sides of the wheel, and varying in `number according .to-thc number of buckets. v

Gr are the bucketsfhung by journals, @inthe-arms C,.preferably at the outer ends, of the latter, said 4journals being allowed to turn'freelyuin theirlbcarings, being the shafts o n which the journalsare formed, On one, or, it may be, both ends of'thesc bucket-'shaft's, are secured guide-*rod holding-plates, t, or carriers. y Y These-plates or lcarriers are for the purpose of supporting guide-rodsD andE, which, in connection withappr priate rails'or tracks, give Vthe requisite feathering action tothebuckets. I preferto make these plates h, which constitute the carriers, vertical and parallel to each other, either pair, 'and as thin as consistent with'strength, in order that they may passthrougli the water with but little displacement of the latter. Such carriers may be strengthened or bracedby thimbles on the guide-rods E, between theiplat'es h, and by a strip or plate corresponding to a section or end-extension of the bucketblade, andvlying in line with the guide-rods D. Both sets of guide-rods, D and E, may be secured to the plates or carriers h, say,-by a collar restingr on the outer i plate and nut, holding each rod on the inner side of the carriers. The bucketshafts F are represented as'passing centrally through the carriers formed by the plates t, and should be squared at Vtheir lit therethrough, with shoulders on the inside and nuts on their exterior ends, and be made to support grcoved arms, into which sharpened wooden blades or buckets, Gr, faced or edged by metallic caps, are inserted and secured lay-rivets. The guider-ods D and E, it will Vbeissen, are placed outside of the arms'C, whereby the'feathering motion of vthe buckets, by means of suitable rails or tracks, is secured; also, such mode of hanging the buckets, and providing them, on their respective guide-rod carriers, with outside guideiofls,V admits of their strength beirig increased by a similar arrangement or connection withother arms, C, parallel, at a suitable distance apart, to the first set.

To the side of the vessel or wheel-house there'are secured two sets of ways or tracks, formed by rails, which, in connection with the two pairs of guide-rods, D and E, to each bucket, serre to feather or turn the buckets. Oneof these rails or tracks, L, is arranged to conform to the lower travel of the buckets, under and outside the .exteriorguide-rodE, in the rotation of the wheel,l its curvatures beingdetermined by revolvingthc wheel, and at the same time maintaining the bucket or blade in the required position. AnotherY and nearest interior. track, U, issituated immediately outside of the inner guide-pin,'E, of each bucket, during the lower range or traverse ofthe wheel, the s hapeand position of such track being regulated as directed, for laying the exterior track, L. .Within these tracks, U'and L, are tracks N and W, formingwhat may be termed two curved wedgcsn;

the track N heingconcentric with L, and the track W with the interior one, U.

For the guidance of the rodsY D of the buckets, to secure to the latter a feathering action, as well duringw their upper as lower travel, a track,-J,.is arranged over or outside of therods D, and another similarly-disposed interior track, K, .fitted vfor the inside guidance of saidfrods.. These tracks, it is preferred, should extend throughout .the whole of the upper range or travel'of Athe rods in the revolution of the'wheel, andfor almost the upper half of such ycircular travel, or nearly-so, these tracks may be concentric', orv thereabouts, with the wheel, say from g to g; but from these latter points, thev outer one, J, of these tracks, in Yits dip or extension downwards, spreads or inclines0utwards,.while the .inner one, K, of such' tracks, from the same points in its dowmvardextension, in'clines or is contracted inwards. Within the spaces formed by the downward extension, as specified, of these tracks J and K, are ways or tracks, Y M, the one-of'which is concentric with the track J,

and the other'with the `'track K'.

The tracks J K Y'M are arranged to lic in a different vertical plane to that of the tracks L N U W, sulliciently far apart as to enable theguide-rods D, tliat may becomparativelyshort, to pass over or. clear the latter tracks during lthe rotary movement of the wheel, rrhile'the guide-rodsE may be longer, to project into their respective ways.

As the wheel rotates, the guide-rods D, passing through the space between the tracks JK, the rear ot' such guide-rodsto each b et, in their commencement of the lower traveLYdireets the forward oneinto between the tracks J Y, and thislatter one, in its turn, directsthe rear ot' such rods into between the tracks K M. The movement of the guide-rods D in between these several rails, ways, or` tracks, inclines the guide-rods E to enter between their respective tracks, L N U W, the run or shape of which, as ofthe other set of traeks JLK Y M,

. causes the bucket, in its lower travel,.toassume a vertical position,said buckets, in or when crossing the highest point of travel, havingr a horizontal position. On or after crossing a. lower point or portion, X, the travel of the two guide-rods E to either bucket is reversed, the one rod passing fromibetween the outer tracks, L N, on

the one side of a perpendicular-line intersecting X, into between the inner tracksf W, and the other of such rods afterwards leaving the tracks U W, on one side, to enter between the tracks L N on'the other or advance side of such perpendicular. The guide-rods'D, too, reverse their positions, the one of such'rods.. to either bucket, duringone portion ofthe revolution of the wheel, being in advance and afterwards in the rear, the one entering between the'tr'acks K'M on the one side of the wheels axis, and leaving by the tracks JY on the other, a reverse position or' course taking place for the other of such guide-rods. 'l

By, this construction and arrangement of. tracks and guide rods,.though.more or less foreshortening or change of the tracks or certain of them, or different disposition ofthe guiderodsfmay be made, without altering'the invention, a perfect feathering action issecnred'for the buckets in a simpleahd comparatively friction'e less manner, with a solid or steady hold of them at certain portions 'of their travel, where resistancel or shock is felt, by means of the carriers in gear not only ut opposite'but'at intermediate or cross-`points with the several tracks.

One importantI feature in this invention, and which is or may be irrespective of the number of guide-rods, is the position of the carriers L, outside the arms C of the wheel, that enables the buckets to bestrengthened or guided any number of times by al repetition of thecarriers, :xs-specified.

What `I claim as my invention, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is 'i 1. The plates or carriers t for holding theguide-rods D E in four angular positions, in' combination with the ways' L N U W and J K Y M, all arranged and operating substantially as shown and described.

2, I claim the combina-tion of four guide-rods to .either bucket, with separate rails or tracks to either pair of said rodsxforoperation together, substantially as and for the purpose Aor purposes herein set forth.

' i JAMES BURsoN.

Witnesses:

A. LE CLEnc, -J. W. Gooi/ms. 

